{"id":19820,"date":"2010-07-22T13:23:49","date_gmt":"2010-07-22T19:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=19820"},"modified":"2010-07-22T15:33:31","modified_gmt":"2010-07-22T21:33:31","slug":"gop-candidate-withdraws-from-state-house-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/07\/gop-candidate-withdraws-from-state-house-race\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP candidate withdraws from state House race"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_19821\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 120px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19821\" title=\"Harris, Tonia\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Harris-Tonia.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"120\" height=\"160\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tonia Harris<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Republican Tonia Harris has dropped her attempt to unseat incumbent Democrat <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/legdetails.aspx?SPONCODE=HTHOJ\">Jack Thomas<\/a> in the Rio Ranch-area District 60 House race.<\/p>\n<p>Harris\u2019 11-year-old daughter requested she drop out of the race, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/abqnews\/abqnewseeker-mainmenu-39\/22755-rio-rancho-republican-withdraws-candidacy.html\">Albuquerque Journal<\/a> is reporting. Harris said she realized being elected would mean spending too much time away from her daughter.<\/p>\n<p>The Sandoval County GOP will pick a replacement candidate on Aug. 5.<\/p>\n<p>In the NMPolitics.net monthly newsletter that goes to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/nmpolitics-net-needs-your-support\/\">qualifying donors<\/a>, I have listed Thomas at No. 4 on my list of most endangered incumbents in New Mexico this election cycle. Harris\u2019 candidacy created a unique situation in this swing district.<\/p>\n<p>Harris\u2019 husband, Sandoval County Sheriff\u2019s Sgt. Joe Harris, was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.krqe.com\/dpp\/news\/crime\/crime_krqe_rio_ranch_harris_lauded_as_father_dedicated_cop_200907211945\">shot and killed<\/a> during an attempt to arrest a burglar in the Jemez Mountains in 2009. The burglar was also killed in that shootout. While Harris said she wanted to reinstate the death penalty \u201cfor the most heinous crimes such as the murder of law enforcement officers,\u201d Thomas voted for the death-penalty repeal that Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>Harris\u2019 personal situation would have helped her connect with voters in a unique way. As a teacher, she also had the ability to speak credibly about education.<\/p>\n<p>It will be interesting to see who the GOP picks to replace Harris on the ballot, and if Thomas will still be in for a tough re-election battle.<\/p>\n<p><em>A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that I listed Harris, not Thomas, at No. 4 on my list of most endangered incumbents in New Mexico.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UPDATED: Republican Tonia Harris has dropped her attempt to unseat incumbent Democrat Jack Thomas in the Rio Ranch-area District 60 House race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[108,107],"class_list":["post-19820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2010-election","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}